Financial Control and Accountability in Public Sector Organizations
Chapter One
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
Within the ambit of this research topic, “Financial control and accountability in the Public Sector”, the objective of the study is not farfetched. The objectives of the study can be summarized in these ways:
To determine ways of checking fraud.
To ascertain to what extent compliance with financial regulations can help the government in achieving set goals and objectives.
To establish a standard and appropriate financial system for recording and extracting financial information.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
THE CONCEPT OF ACCOUNTABILITY
Accountability is all about being answerable to those who have invested their trust, faith, and resources in you. Adegite (2010) defined accountability as the obligation to demonstrate that work has been conducted by agreed rules and standards and the officer reports fairly and accurately on performance results vis-à-vis mandated roles and or/plans. It means doing things transparently in line with due process and the provision of feedback. Johnson (2004) says that public accountability is an essential component for the functioning of our political system, as accountability means that those who are charged with drafting and/or carrying out policy should be obliged to explain their actions to their electorate. Premchand (1999) observed that the capacity to achieve full accountability has been and continues to be inadequate, partly because of the design of accountability itself and partly because of the widening range of objectives and associated expectations attached to accountability. He further argues that if accountability is to be achieved in full, including its constructive aspects, then it must be designed with care. The objective of accountability should go beyond the naming and shaming of officials, or the pursuit of sleaze, to a search for durable improvements in economics management to reduce the incidence of institutional recidicism. The future of accountability consists of covering the macro aspects of economic and financial sustainability, as well as the micro aspects of service delivery. It should envisage a three-tier structure of accountability: that of official (both political and regular civil employees), that of intergovernmental relationships, and that between government and their respective legislatures.
PUBLIC FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT IN NIGERIA
Public financial management is concerned with the planning, organizing, procurement, and utilization of government financial resources as well as the formulation of appropriate policies to achieve the aspirations of members of that society. Premchand (1999) sees public financial management as the link between the community’s aspirations with resources, and the present with the future. It lies at the very heart of the operations and fiscal policy of the government. The stages of public financial management include:
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research design
The researcher used descriptive research survey design in building up this project work the choice of this research design was considered appropriate because of its advantages of identifying attributes of a large population from a group of individuals. The design was suitable for the study as the study sought to financial control and accountability in public sector organization
Sources of data collection
Data were collected from two main sources namely:
(i)Primary source and
(ii)Secondary source
Primary source:
These are materials of statistical investigation which were collected by the research for a particular purpose. They can be obtained through a survey, observation questionnaire or as experiment; the researcher has adopted the questionnaire method for this study.
Secondary source:
These are data from textbook Journal handset etc. they arise as byproducts of the same other purposes. Example administration, various other unpublished works and write ups were also used.
Population of the study
Population of a study is a group of persons or aggregate items, things the researcher is interested in getting information on financial control and accountability in public sector organization. 200 staff of ministry of finance, Abia state. were selected randomly by the researcher as the population of the study.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION OF DATA
Introduction
Efforts will be made at this stage to present, analyze and interpret the data collected during the field survey. This presentation will be based on the responses from the completed questionnaires. The result of this exercise will be summarized in tabular forms for easy references and analysis. It will also show answers to questions relating to the research questions for this research study. The researcher employed simple percentage in the analysis.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was to ascertain financial control and accountability in public sector organization. In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the challenges of financial control and accountability in public sector organization
Summary
This study was on financial control and accountability in public sector organization. Three objectives were raised which included: To determine ways of checking fraud, to ascertain to what extent compliance with financial regulations can help government in achieving set goals and objectives, to establish standard and appropriate financial system for recording and extracting financial information. In line with these objectives, two research hypotheses were formulated and two null hypotheses were posited. The total population for the study is 200 staff of ministry of finance, Abia state. The researcher used questionnaires as the instrument for the data collection. Descriptive Survey research design was adopted for this study. A total of 133 respondents made directors, administrative staff, senior staff and junior staff were used for the study. The data collected were presented in tables and analyzed using simple percentages and frequencies
CONCLUSION
Based on the findings of the study it is concluded that internal control systems influences financial management of public sector. This effect is supported by the significant positive relationship observed between control activity and financial management in the public sector in ministry of finance. However, control activities had a slightly higher positive significant relationship with financial management. It is further concluded that the public sector in Abia state has an effective financial control system as supported by the presence of clear separation of roles, supervision and commitment of management on the implementation of internal controls. However, internal control systems are not well extended to all the departments which have affected their efficiency as revealed by this study. On financial management in ministry of finance, the study concludes that the prudential use of financial resources is not appropriate, although there is improved asset use as well as classification of revenues and expenditures. The final conclusion of this study is that there is a significant positive relationship between internal control system (control activities) and financial management (prudence and accountability).
Recommendation
The study recommends competence staff profiling based on the requirement of internal control systems. The study also recommends that there should be a deliberate attempt by the leadership of ministry of finance to strengthen the management’s commitment towards the implementation of internal control systems. Finally, ministry of fianance should maintain strong areas of success in the implementation of the existing control activity as per the results of this study to improve financial management. Furthermore, control activities procedures and policies should be regularly revised to ensure they are effective
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